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LA Clippers star wing Paul George recently had his impression of NBA legend Charles Barkley go viral. However, it looks like that’s not the only impression that George has mastered.
During a recent episode of “Podcast P with Paul George,” Clippers owner Steve Ballmer made a guest appearance. Ballmer told a story about a time that former Clippers coach Doc Rivers spoke to him about his over-the-top enthusiasm at games. According to Ballmer, following his first game, Rivers told him to dial his enthusiasm down a notch as he was in for a long season:
“Doc calls, talks to me after the game, says basically, ‘Dude, we’ve got 82 of these. You might want to save a little wear and tear on your vocal cords in your body,’” Ballmer said.
“I call that my first learning moment, if you will.”
At that point, George joked that Ballmer would have ended up sounding like Rivers from losing his voice:
“Otherwise, you’d talk like me,” George said while impersonating Rivers.
Ballmer then praised George’s impersonation skills:
“That’s two good accents you can do, two impersonations. I like the other one you did about Charles Barkley too,” Ballmer said.
George then did one last spot-on impression of Rivers talking to Ballmer:
“Steve, you’ll sound like me if you — I don’t know, I don’t know,” George said.
(30:20 mark below)
Also read: Paul George delivers hilarious Charles Barkley impersonation at Stephen A. Smith's request
Steve Ballmer on why he bought the LA Clippers
During his Podcast P appearance, Steve Ballmer also spoke with Paul George about his reason for buying the LA Clippers from disgraced owner Donald Sterling in 2014. Ballmer said that he was already retired at the time and was looking for something to keep him busy. He added that he had always been a big fan of the city of LA, so he capitalized on the opportunity to purchase the Clippers:
“The Sterling things come up, and my middle son who was in college at the time says, ‘Dad, you've got to get on this, this thing is gonna sell,’” Ballmer said.
“I like LA. I'm retired. The notion of getting out of Seattle when it's sort of rainy and gray and coming to LA in the wintertime, that's appealing. So, we jumped on it.”
Ballmer has since become one of the NBA’s most recognizable owners due to his passion and enthusiasm for his team. This comes despite the Clippers having failed to live up to expectations over the past few seasons. LA has yet to make an NBA Finals appearance during Ballmer’s tenure with the team. However, if they ever do, Ballmer will almost certainly be there to cheer his team on.
